Mitchell Siporin : a retrospective, [exhibition] : Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, 11 May-30 June 1976

Mitchell Siporin: A Retrospective

Rose Art Museum
Brandeis University
Waltham, Massachusetts

11 May-30June 1976

This catalogue was made possible through the
generosity of the following persons:

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Auerbach,
Boston, Massachusetts

Dr. and Mrs. Saul G. Cohen,
Belmont, Massachusetts

Mr. and Mrs. Max Dressier,
Glencoe, Illinois

Mrs. Charles Goldman,
New York, New York

Polaroid Foundation, Inc.,
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Rubenstein,
Brockton, Massachusetts

The organization of this exhibition was a large
but deeply rewarding task. Many individuals and
institutions have contributed to it, and I am
grateful to all of them. I particularly wish to
thank the museums and private collectors who
have loaned works of art. Their participation has
enabled us to mount the kind of comprehensive
exhibition which the artist's many achievements
deserve. I am also deeply grateful to Kathe
Tuttman, who assisted at every stage of the
project and who was primarily responsible for
the research material contained in this catalogue.
Neither the catalogue nor the exhibition could
have been realized without her efforts. Finally,
and above all, I am indebted to Mitchell Siporin:
for his constant cooperation, for his willingness
to aid in the assembling of works of art and
documentary material, and for the many insights
about art and culture he shared during visits
to his home and studio. The experience of
organizing and presenting this retrospective of
his work has been invaluable in ways both per-
sonal and professional.

C.B.

Mitchell Siporin

"SIPORIIM (Mitchell), peintre, travaille au XXe
siecle . . . il peint de complexes compositions,
a personnages multiples, souvent inspirees
des evenements contemporains, dans une
maniere moderniste."

E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des
Peintres, Sculptures, Dessin-
ateurs et Graveurs, 1949.

In art, as elsewhere, the word modern refers
generally to present or recent activities. Beyond
that, controversy surrounds its meaning and
clouds its parameters. The time of its begin-
ning, the identity of its contents, its relationship
to the past as well as to its own society, its
style - these are all issues which bear on the
question of modern art's distinguishing charac-
teristics. However elusive and chameleonic
those characteristics may be, they do not exist in
a vacuum, nor are they mere abstractions. They
issue from the expressive urges of the men and
women who together make the art of our time,
and they reside within the objects which are the
result of a cumulative creative process. As such,
they constitute generalizations; nevertheless,
they inevitably spring from individual artists and
individual works - which is where any under-
standing of the term modern art must ultimately
begin and end.

It is one of the purposes of a retrospective
exhibition to reveal through a selection of indi-
vidual works of art the scope of an individual
artist's vision. His vision is by definition personal,
though it naturally relates to the visions of other
artists both past and present. On the personal
level, the retrospective makes accessible the
shape of an artist's imagination, its range, and
the contours of its growth. That growth generally
expresses itself in terms of what we call stylistic
change, and it is in these terms that the artist's
position within the broader constructs of the
history of art becomes apparent. In every case,
the latter develops out of the former, which is an

important fact to keep in mind, particularly in
studying the modern period, where the reverse
sometimes appears to be true. With a parade of
20th century movements before us, we might
occasionally think that an artist works with an
"ism" in mind, or that a retrospective is staged
to corroborate one of the generalizations we
already have in hand. If anything, the retro-
spective ought to disrupt our generalizations,
perhaps even forcing us to reshape them. After
all, in addressing ourselves to a retrospective,
we assess not only the personality and position
of an individual, but our own personalities and
positions as well. Confrontation with the works
of an artist of our time thus informs us of what
we mean, or do not mean, when we use the term
modern.

The retrospective, of course, is not meant to be
only revelatory or didactic. Its purpose is also
honorific, meant to acknowledge a full career
after it has reached maturity and its achievement
is, in some sense, a matter of record. It is a
relatively recent art world phenomenon, having
come into being only during the last century.
Yet, it is distinctly modern: first, because of the
nature of its content - that is, the work of an
individual whose status is independent of the
sanctions and patronage of either church or
state; and second, because of its almost
inevitable link to a museum - that is, an institu-
tion whose purpose, more than less, is to serve
the public by stimulating an awareness of art's
history. To be sure, artists were honored before
the modern period, but their honors came from
popes or kings or enlightened members of the
ruling class. It was not the job of the general
public - or even a fraction of that public, which
is what the modern art audience finally amounts
to - either to bestow those honors or to judge
their Tightness. To the pope or king, the artist
may alternately have been an inspired genius
or a mere craftsman, but in no operative sense
was he a peer of the public. Likewise, while an
awareness of art's history existed in a variety of

pre-modern societies, that awareness did not
become structured into the discipline of art
history until the 19th century.

These shifts of circumstance bear seriously on
the ways we presently honor the artist, as well
as on the meaning of the honors themselves.
In the case of a retrospective, the exhibition
itself constitutes an honor bestowed by an
institution. At the same time, it is offered to
the public, and not only for enlightenment and
delectation, but, in effect, for judgment as well.
Thus, the public grants or refuses recognition.
But the public's identity is essentially anonymous,
which means that its judgments of success or
failure fall only on the shoulders of the individual
creator. Responsibility for the work done is his
and only his. The situation is frightfully demand-
ing, but it nevertheless focuses what we have
come to accept as the essence of the modern
experience - namely, that each of us ultimately
faces the world alone. For the artist, this con-
dition is not just an effect of his job of work;
rather, it is its definition.

Mitchell Siporin presents us with a concept of
modern art that is panoramic in scope and open-
ended in its identity. It is predicated on the
notion of the artist's independence, though it
repeatedly acknowledges his ancestry, his pro-
fessional responsibility, and his membership in
society. His role may be that of gadfly, critic,
sage or entertainer, and his stance may be pas-
sionately involved or amusedly skeptical. Always,
however, his identity is as complex as it is
elusive, the turns of his imagination depending
on time and place as well as personal inclina-
tion. With respect to both art and artist, the
concept of the modern is that of expansiveness
as opposed to reduction, the richness of a fabric
- however involved - as opposed to the simplicity
of a single thread - however pure.

Siporin's own art began in earnest during the
early 1930's when, at the age of 24, he did his
"Haymarket Series" - 25 drawings depicting
the artist's impressions of the notorious and
tragic events which began at a labor protest
meeting in Chicago's Haymarket Square and
ended with the execution of four anarchists
injudiciously charged with the murder of seven
Chicago policemen. The incidents took place in
1886, the climax of labor's struggle for the eight-
hour day, and public monuments kept their
memory alive, particularly for those who, like
the artist, grew up with an awareness of the
Labor Movement and its history.

Siporin's father was a union organizer, and his
mother was a painter in her own right. The
family had lived in Chicago since 1911, and in
many ways the "Haymarket Series" established
the direction of Siporin's art not only through the
1930's but into his maturity as well. In part, that
direction is characterized by a consciousness of
the past and an insistence that the past is con-
stantly relevant to the present. In the Haymarket
drawings, Siporin's subject matter and content
are overtly political, expressing compassion for
human suffering and outrage at the injustices
human beings inflict upon one another. For the
murals executed in 1942 in the St. Louis Post
Office, however - a commission which the artist
won in collaboration with Edward Millman, and
which, to that date, was the largest ever awarded
by the Federal Government - a more distin-
guished historical subject was chosen. The nine
frescoes, each measuring nine by twenty-nine
feet and covering a total of three thousand square
feet of wall space, highlight the first one hun-
dred years of St. Louis history through a stern,
yet robust and celebratory depiction of early
settlers, fur traders and such legendary charac-
ters as Daniel Boone and John Brown. A third
type of history, or historical awareness, provided
the inspiration for such pictures as End of an
Era (1946), Endless Voyage (1946) and Winter
Soldiers ( 1946). Whether real - the artist's
experiences during World War II and his personal
witnessing of the hanging of Mussolini - or
imaginary - his vision of the continuous migra-

tions of the Jews - the subjects here constitute
current history, the lived events which have
shaped and continue to shape our parents, our-
selves and our children.

Siporin's consciousness of history, his sense of
its immediacy, and his acceptance of its con-
tinuity into the present result in a point of view
that is rooted in the late 18th century when, it is
often argued, one of the chief characteristics of
the modern sensibility first took shape. I am
referring to the concept of art's political content,
to the idea that modern art is in and of the
world, committed to it in ways which do not
accurately describe the situations of earlier
artists. The commitment itself may be direct
or indirect, actively involved or consciously dis-
tanced, but in no case is it either neutral or
unproblematic. It is as though the modern artist
cannot afford not to declare his position or, at
least, he cannot avoid questioning his relation-
ship to his world in the first place. In the pre-
modern situation, the artist, like any man, could
take the existence of his world for granted;
moreover, his relation to it was usually structured
by church or state. The modern artist, however,
must discover and structure the world for him-
self, which means he must be active from the
beginning. In creating his structures, he has
little to go on - except what he personally
uncovers in the records of other men's actions,
which is to say history.

As I said, the political content of modern art
has its roots in the late 18th century. Goya and
David were the seminal figures in shaping that
content, and their 19th century descendants
include Daumier and Courbet, among others.
In the 20th century, one looks to the German
Expressionists as the major European bearers of
the tradition, while American painters ranging
from the Ashcan School to the Social Realists
became additionally significant contributors to
it. Generally, and especially with respect to its
American participants, it is a tradition which has
been rather overlooked in critical and historical
studies, at least until recently. Its relative
neglect in part reflects the patterns of our taste

and in part the fact that much European and
American painting since the middle of the 19th
century has devoted its energies to formal issues,
thereby inspiring a lot of positivist-oriented criti-
cal study. That the best of that art is anti-
positivist in content, and that it is ultimately as
"political" as the work I have been discussing,
are facts about it which will eventually become
clear, although this is not the appropriate context
in which to establish them. At the moment, my
purpose has been to describe how the kind of
political content exhibited in the works of Mitchell
Siporin is fundamental to any comprehensive
understanding of modern art.

While political in the sense I have tried to de-
scribe, modern art is just as conscious of itself
and of its past as it is of the society around it
and of history in general. "Art comes from art,"
is the way the saying goes, and, though this is
probably true for the art of any period, it is true
with a vengeance in the case of the modern.
The art of our time has occasionally been so
self-generating, in fact, that its meaning has
become inaccessible to those who are not familiar
with its lineage. When that happens, the charge
of elitism is usually leveled - though inappropri-
ately, since the charge is at best descriptive of
art's situation, not its intent. The fact that much
of our art is self-referential is simply a function
of the artist's necessary awareness of the past,
and its so-called obscurity is but a reflection of
the artist's independent status and the utterly
personal nature of his work. Elitism thus resides
in the eye of the beholder who is unwilling, or
unable, to acknowledge certain fundamental
aspects of the modern condition.

A consciousness of art's past pervades Mitchell
Siporin's work and operates on a variety of
levels. Generally, its most distinguishing char-
acteristic is its breadth. Siporin is not an artist
for whom art history consists only of last season's
events in the galleries and museums of New
York or Paris, nor does he subscribe to the

decade-by-decade view of it that has become
popular in America since World War II. The
history of art, rather, is a complex and continu-
ous phenomenon which, for the artist, stretches
as far as his curiosity will allow and as wide as
his imagination can embrace. It includes the
modern period but is not restricted to it. Thus,
the series called "Monet in His Garden"
(1959-60) takes inspiration from the great
master of Impressionism, while the images in
"Rembrandt and His Models" (1961-62) pay
homage to a genius of the 17th century.

With Siporin, moreover, each inspiration from
the past necessitates a distinctive treatment and
emphasis in the present. Whether dealing with
Monet or Rembrandt, his own hand is invariably
present - during the period in question, it is
characterized by an overall proliferation of small,
prism-like pictorial units - yet he never forces
his subject to bend entirely to his personal will.
He sees Monet as being fused with his surround-
ing landscape, thereby emphasizing the artist's
almost mystical relationship to the visible world.
In the Rembrandt pictures, by comparison,
Siporin concentrates on the human figure, es-
pecially gesture and physiognomy, thus directing
our attention to the realms of psychological
insight that mark the Baroque master's achieve-
ment.

A third series, called "Imaginary Interviews"
(1956-58), is also important in illuminating
Siporin's attitude toward past art, as well as for
revealing his view of its place within the broader
picture of modern culture. The "Interviews"
bring together a diversity of characters: William
Blake and Toulouse-Lautrec engage in a discus-
sion of sin in Songs of Innocence and Experience;
Jack Levine and Al Capone meet in Gangster's
Funeral; Lorenzo da Ponte and Mozart join in a
duet in Serenade from Don Giovanni; Franz
Kafka, his fiancee Dora Dymant, and the rabbi
who forbade their marriage confront one another
silently in The Denial; and Ambroise Vollard and
Edith Halpert share thoughts on aesthetics and
the art market in Picture Dealers. Like much of
Siporin's art since about 1950, including the

Monet and Rembrandt series, the "Imaginary
Interviews" are tinged with lively wit and delicate
satire. Most significantly, however, they together
establish a point about art which Siporin is
relentless in pursuing - namely, that no work
of art of any kind is ever created in a vacuum.
By the same token, no work of art can be fully
understood in isolation from its cultural context.
Painters, poets, composers, novelists, commer-
cial dealers, even gangsters - of the past as
well as the present - all contribute to the cul-
tural atmosphere of a particular time and place,
all inform the creative act and our compre-
hension of it. Feelings of being compelled to
specialize - in one medium, one style, one
period, or one artist - may have numbed our
sensitivity to this message, but it is one which
Siporin himself refuses to let go, from either his
life or his art.

The refusal to specialize - other than in the
business of being everything he believes an artist
ought to be - is reflected in the style of Siporin's
art as well as in his subject matter. Regarding the
latter, I have already mentioned works dealing
with protest, history, war, art and culture gen-
erally. That list must be expanded to include
a panoply of individual subjects related to both
ordinary and unusual personal experiences and
ranging from his participation in the academic
world - he has taught at Brandeis University
for twenty-five years - to his journeys outside the
United States - he has twice visited Mexico for
extended periods, he has twice been a resident
at the American Academy in Rome, and his
travels have also included South America, Africa,
England, France and Spain. The result is a large
and rich world, but it is, or can be, as much ours
as it is the artist's.

Though thought of in some circles as a Social
Realist, Siporin's range of stylistic expression far
exceeds the confines of that label. Surely, certain
works from the '30's and '40's can be grouped

under the banner of Social Realism - for in-
stance, first in Homeless, Charity and the early
drawings, and later in End of an Era and Endless
Voyage, among others - but even here the cate-
gory lacks precision. To my eye, such paintings
are more expressionistic than anything: figures
are twisted out of shape, their heads and limbs
are given exaggerated proportions, and the
spaces they occupy are warped into nightmarish
configurations. The subjects may be societal,
but their presentation is only nominally realistic.
Less real than surreal, Siporin's world in these
examples is intensely somber, sometimes even
frightening. He employs caricature to achieve
the effect of morbidity rather than amusement.

Elements of Expressionism and Surrealism can be
traced in a number of Siporin's paintings, draw-
ings and watercolors, while his tendency toward
caricature marks an additionally recurrent aspect
of his overall stylistic outlook. Since the early
1950's, he has increasingly used caricature to
express a witty or satirical point of view, as can
be seen in the Monet and Rembrandt series, as
well as in such individual works as Academic
Festival, Busy Day in the Atelier, and, from the
Porta Portese series, Panorama and Hassid
Washing His Feet in the Roman Fountain.
As persistent as this tendency has been, how-
ever, it by no means accounts for the entire
stylistic spectrum of Siporin's art. Harbor City,
for example, is almost totally abstract, while
Rendezvous is ultimately derived from Synthetic
Cubism; the prism-like units of the Monet or
Rembrandt series acknowledge the watercolors
of Cezanne, and the monumental figure style of
the public frescoes recalls the great Mexican
muralists, Rivera and Orozco. WhatSiporin offers
us in terms of style, in other words, is nothing
less than the richness and variety that are
synonymous with the modern period in general.

If the foregoing suggests that Siporin is but an
eclectic reflection of a cross-section of 20th
century styles, it is an impression I would like to
dispel. The development of his art is as coherent
when viewed from within as it is encyclopedic
when viewed from without. It stretches in time
from the 1930's to the present day, and it holds
together in its steady revelation of the artist's
growth as a painterly painter. For, while he has
painted from the beginning, Siporin has gradu-
ally adjusted the emphasis he gives to color as
well as the uses he makes of it to achieve light
in his pictures. Though he has never ceased
to draw, in other words, the sculptural drawing
which marks his earliest achievements has, over
the years, been more and more confined to his
pen and watercolor expressions rather than his
paintings, which, in turn, have become decidedly
looser and more pictorial.

Specific aspects of the development described
above can be traced back to the earliest works
in this exhibition, that is, the Haymarket draw-
ings. The figures here are characterized by
crisp, almost biting contours and dramatic light-
to-dark internal modeling. Though twisted and
attenuated, they are fully volumetric, sculpture-
like entities that have been etched out of their
surrounding spaces by a tour de force of
exacting, linear, cross-hatched drawing. Inter-
estingly, albeit surprisingly, the technique has
periodically informed Siporin's paintings as well
- not so much during the 1930's, but during the
late 1940's. It is especially noticeable in Ghost
Harbor, an eerie scene of marine wreckage in the
harbor of Livorno during World War II. In it, a
cluster of partially destroyed ships protrude like
desolate cathedral spires from an agitated sea
that is rendered with the same staccato markings
typical of the Haymarket drawings done more
than a decade earlier.

The monumental figure style and the brooding
atmosphere of the Haymarket pictures also
dominate the public murals which Siporin
executed alone and in collaboration between
1939 and 1942. Of the four commissions he
won during this period, the St. Louis murals

are probably the best known. Typical of the
artist's respect for professional tradition and
technique, they were done in true fresco, in the
Italian Renaissance manner revived by the great
Mexican muralists and the United States painters
on government mural projects. It was in Giotto,
Masaccio and Piero della Francesca that the
artists of the thirties found the architectural
medium for public art. Typical of the medium,
then, the luminosity of Siporin's frescoes
emanates from within, the result of applying
earthy colors to the white ground of a freshly
plastered wall. While the scale of these murals
cannot be appreciated outside their permanent
architectural setting, we are fortunate in having
in the current exhibition three small paintings -
executed in egg tempera on gessoed wood panels
- which were intended to simulate the effects of
surface, color and light in the originals. In addi-
tion, they clearly define the artist's continued
emphasis upon powerful sculptural modeling
during this period of his career.

The mural commissions resulted in a lasting
impact on Siporin's development as a painter -
an impact, it should be noted, which contained
liabilities as well as assets. For instance, the
somber palette and sculptural drawing of the
frescoes very probably served to retard the
artist's investigation of what are felt to be two of
the intrinsic properties of modern painting, that
is, expressive color and brushwork. At the same
time, the delicate translucencies of fresco help
to account for the quality of light in all of
Siporin's paintings and for his long involvement
with watercolor, a medium in which he continues
to work with masterful precision.

In any case, an important change in Siporin's
relation to these artistic issues can be seen in
the paintings completed between 1947 and
1954. In End of an Era, Endless Voyage and
Winter Soldiers, for instance, the drawing
remains relatively crisp, color is subdued, and
surface handling is kept to a minimum, more a
means to an end than an end in itself. However,

Joy Ride, Twilight on Upper Broadway, Moonlight
Over Myrtle and Dancers By the Clock, which
were begun just two years later, reveal some
undeniable stylistic adjustments. In the first
place, the elongated and expressionistic figures
of the earlier pictures have given way to rotund,
pneumatic creatures whose caricature-like fea-
tures create an atmosphere that is at once touch-
ing and whimsical. Each composition contains a
cluster of figures, but they are spiritually isolated
from one another, even alienated. A second dif-
ference has to do with color: essentially, it is
brighter, which means it is allowed to exude its
own luminosity - very much like fresco - rather
than having to act only as highlighting upon a
darkened field. And finally, the paintings are
executed with an array of short, flickering brush-
strokes that are decidedly more lively and
spontaneous than the comparatively neutral and
functional markings in End of an Era, Endless
Voyage and Winter Soldiers.

The tendencies evident in the newer paintings
continue into the work of the early fifties. To
me, the most significant of them have to do
with brushstroke and color, for they constitute
the painterly foundation Siporin has built upon
in many of his subsequent efforts. What is
fascinating, moreover, is that both tendencies are
rooted in late Impressionism, a style the artist
was familiar with since his student days - he
daily saw Seurat's La Grande Jatte while attend-
ing the Chicago Art Institute - even though it
did not begin to bear real fruit until he was in
his late thirties. That those early lessons took
a relatively long time to become operative was
due, I think, to two factors: first, the murals,
paintings which occupied the artist for more than
three years, and which, in terms of their formal-
ity, tradition, public and rhetorical nature -the
latter a quality which persisted in Siporin's art
until well into the 1940's - did not encourage
the type of experimentation for which modern
easel painting has become so naturally suited;
and second, the war, meaning for Siporin a set

of personal experiences, surreal and expression-
istic in themselves, which had to be dealt with
before a more self-indulgent exploration of the
medium per se could be undertaken. I do not
mean that such an exploration had been Siporin's
sole concern since the early 1950's, for, as the
Rembrandt, Monet and Imaginary Interviews
series attest, it clearly had not. Unlike the
watercolors, however, Siporin's paintings have
been less series-oriented, and it is in them that
the painterly development I'm talking about can
be traced.

The period which produced Joy Ride and related
pictures such as Fesfa in Trastevere (1950) also
witnessed the emergence of another painterly
concern on Siporin's part. Landscape With Lime
Kiln (1949) and Rendezvous (1954), for instance,
both contain recognizable subject matter,
although both tend to suppress figurative volume
in favor of spreading, two-dimensional planes of
color. The source of such pictorial units lies, as
I noted earlier, in Synthetic Cubism, but their
importance lies not so much in the historical
pedigree they establish as in the pictorial
emphasis they announce. For, while Synthetic
Cubism was originally a tactile kind of painting
characterized by hard-edged planes of opaque
color, it becomes in Siporin's hands more airy
and painterly. Thus, the years between 1948 and
the mid-1950's show the artist struggling with
his own background - his draughtsmanship and
his work as a muralist- in order to establish his
territory within the painterly tradition. That the
struggle was complex and challenging goes with-
out saying; that it was artistically successful, at
the same time, is one of the points this show
hopes to document.

In between his recurrent involvement with water-
color -an involvement which most recently
produced a series of lighthearted but incisive
views of cultural life in today's Mexico, such as
Assault on the Presidential Palace and Abduction
of the Yanqui Consul - Siporin has continued to
pursue the painterly issues he first personalized
more than twenty years ago. A seminal picture in

the continuing pursuit is Death and the Maiden
(1962), particularly in terms of its gestural
surface. The latter marks one of the artist's most
persistent concerns throughout the past decade,
and in the 1970's alone it has blossomed into
some of his richest and most colorful expres-
sions. Among these, Boy in Garden and Closing
Time at the Prado deserve special attention, as
does a series of variations on landscape themes,
some of which were only completed during the
past six months. They are not conventional
landscapes; in fact, they are among the artist's
most abstract compositions, meaning not only
that their inspiration springs largely from art, but
that their content is directed at it. The loose
handling of color that contains light constitutes
one of the most important facets of these paint-
ings whose meanings inform us of yet another
way in which Siporin's achievements embody,
and at the same time acknowledge, the full
complement of modern possibilities.

Thus far, I have purposely avoided mention of
Siporin's 1958 watercolor, Homage to Pissarro.
In style and subject matter, the group portrait
relates to many of the issues I have already dis-
cussed - the artist's consciousness of history and
his interest in Impressionism, for instance -
though it also stands, for me anyway, as a
symbol of still another important aspect of
Siporin's career. I am referring to his teaching,
not only in the classroom, but outside it as well.
For, while Pissarro was not an academician, he
was nevertheless a teacher - to the many artists,
many of whom were younger than he, to whom
he gave advice and encouragement during his
long and productive career. He was in many
ways the "father-figure" of the Impressionists,
the most constant participant in the movement
and the outstanding spokesman of its aims.

Within the classroom, Siporin has been teaching
here at Brandeis University since 1951, the year
he founded the Department of Fine Arts. His
contribution to the fine arts, however, has never
been limited to the classroom alone. Before the
Rose Art Museum even existed, he brought exhi-
bitions of modern art to the campus, and he
helped to organize the permanent collection at a
time when it had no permanent home. He was
instrumental in organizing the Brandeis Creative
Arts Awards Commission, and he chaired their
painting juries for more than ten years. Finally,
he has served as a principal advisor for the
Saltzman Visiting Artist Program which has
brought to Brandeis such distinguished artists
as Elaine de Kooning, Theodore Stamos, Philip
Guston, Leon Polk Smith, Anthony Toney, Frank
Stella, Stephen Greene, Jacob Lawrence and
Carl Holty.

These efforts are undeniably diverse, and they
have naturally played an enormous role in
shaping the cultural and educational life of the
University. As contributions, they stand apart,
but their meaning should not be isolated - for
they ultimately constitute a fabric of activity that
is just as rich, just as mindful of history, and just
as conscious of aesthetic, social and professional
values, as the artist's more personal expressions
in paint, pen, print or watercolor.

Carl Belz

Plates

10

Babes in Toyland, from the "Haymarket

Series," 1934

pen and ink

23!/2 x 17"

Collection of the Artist

After the Civil War, Building the
Railroads, Pony Express and Portraits,
(Caleb Bingham, James Rollins, Mark
Twain, Joseph Pulitzer, Carl Schurz),
U.S. Post Office, St. Louis, Missouri,
1940-42
fresco mural
108x348"

21

Homeless, 1939
oil on canvas
30 x 36"
Collection of the Artist

29

End of an Era, 1946

oil on canvas

40 x 52"

Collection of Dr. Robert Atkins,

New York, New York

30

Endless Voyage, 1946

oil on canvas

34% x 39%"

Lent by the University of Iowa,

Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa

31

Winter Soldiers, 1946
oil on canvas
36 x 40"
Collection of the Artist

39

Joy Ride, 1948

oil on canvas

60 x 40"

Collection of the Artist

47

Dancers by the Clock, 1949

oil on canvas

40V2 x 60%"

Lent by the Whitney Museum of

American Art, New York, New York

73

Picture Dealers, from the series,
"Imaginary Interviews," 1957
watercolor
22% x 30"

Collection of Mr. Louis R. Glaser,
Providence, Rhode Island

89

Venus and Mars, from the series,
"Rembrandt and His Models," 1961-62
watercolor
38% x 25V2"
Collection of the Artist

106

Blue Landscape, 1972
oil on canvas
40 x 60"

Collection of the Artist

107

Boy in Garden, 1972-73

oil on canvas

40 x 60"

Collection of the Artist

110

Death of the Sun - Palacio de Belles

Artes, 1974

watercolor

22% x 30"

Collection of the Artist

AV. !n^~"

118

Closing Time at the Prado, 1975

oil on canvas

45x31"

Collection of the Artist

Chronology

1910

Born 5 May, New York, New York, to
Chaim and Genya (Dressier).

1911

Family moved to Chicago, Illinois.

1928-1932

Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago,
at Crane College, Chicago, and with
the painter Todros Geller.

1931-1932

Worked as free-lance illustrator for
Esquire, New Masses and Ringmaster
magazines.

1934-1935

Haymarket drawings Series.

1938

Commissioned to paint a series of
tempera panels for the Bloom Township
High School, Chicago Heights, Illinois,
on the subject of "Steel."

1939

First trip to Mexico.

Commissioned to paint frescoes for
the foyer of the Lane Technical High
School Auditorium, Chicago, Illinois,
dealing with "The Teaching of the
Arts."

1940

Won regional competition and com-
mission from the Section of Fine Arts
of the Public Buildings Administration
to paint frescoes dealing with the history
of Central Illinois in the Post Office at
Decatur, Illinois, in collaboration with
Edward Millman and Edgar Britton.

Won national competition and com-
mission to paint seventeen frescoes
dealing with the history of Missouri in
the Post Office Building, St. Louis,
Missouri, in collaboration with Edward
Millman. This two-year job, at a cost
of $29,000, was the largest single
commission made by the Section of
Fine Arts of the Public Buildings
Administration.

First one man show, Downtown Gallery,
New York, New York.

1941

Awarded the Bertha Aberle Florsheim
Prize for Painting, "44th American
Exhibition," the Art Institute of Chicago,
Chicago, Illinois.

1942

Exhibited in "Americans 1942: 18 Artists
from 9 States," at the Museum of
Modern Art, New York, New York. The
exhibition was selected by Dorothy Miller
and also included Hyman Bloom,
Morris Graves, Rico Lebrun and Jack
Levine, among others.

1942-1945

Served in North Africa with the Army
Art Corps and in Italy with the United
States Fifth Army.

1945

Awarded John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation Fellowship for
Painting; renewed for 1946.

Married Miriam Tane, 11 November.

1946

Awarded Joseph Pennell Medal for
Drawing by the Pennsylvania Academy
of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1947

Awarded Frank G. Logan Medal and
First Prize for Painting, "50th Ameri-
can Exhibition," the Art Institute of
Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Received First Prize and Purchase
Award, "Annual of American Painting,"
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.

1948

Headed the Painting Department,
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Summer
School, Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

1949

Awarded a Prix de Rome Fellowship
for Painting, American Academy in
Rome.

Lived and worked in Rome, travelled
throughout Italy, France, Holland,
Belgium and Great Britain.

Awarded Second Prize for American
Painting, "Hallmark Art Awards,"
Hallmark International Competition,
Wildenstein Gallery, New York, New York.

1950-1951

Taught drawing at Columbia
University, New York, New York.

1951

Founded Department of Fine Arts,
Brandeis University, Waltham,
Massachusetts; served as Chairman
of the Department through 1963; served
as first Curator of the Brandeis
University Art Collection.

Birth of daughter Judith.

1953

Birth of daughter Rachel.

1954

Received Second Prize for Painting,
Boston Arts Festival, Boston,
Massachusetts.

1955

Received National Institute of Arts and
Letters Award.

Received Third Prize for Painting,
Boston Arts Festival, Boston,
Massachusetts.

1956-1958

Imaginary Interviews Series.

1959-1960

Monet in His Garden Series.

1960

Received First Prize for Watercolor,
"United States National Exhibition,"
Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, Ohio.

1961-1962

Rembrandt and his Models Series.

1966-1967

Awarded Senior Fulbright Fellowship
to work in Italy, and appointed Artist
in Residence at the American Academy
in Rome.

1973-1974

Second trip to Mexico.

1974

Travelled in England, Scotland and
Spain.

1976

"Mitchell Siporin: A Retrospective,"
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University,
Waltham, Massachusetts.

Group Exhibitions

1933

"Century of Progress," World's Fair,
Chicago, Illinois

1936

"New Horizons in American Art,"
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
New York

1939

World's Fair, New York, New York

1940

World's Fair, San Francisco, California

1941

"Pintura Contemporanea Norteameri-
cana," organized by the Museum of
Modern Art, New York, New York and
the United States State Department;
traveled through Mexico and South
America

1942

"Americans 1942," Museum of Modern
Art, New York, New York

"American Life," Springfield Museum
of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"45th American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1943

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"46th American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1944

"Artists at War," National Traveling
Exhibition organized by the United
States War and Treasury Departments

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"47th American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago,. Illinois

"Annual Carnegie Institute Exhibition,"
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania

1945

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"48th American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

"Annual Carnegie Institute Exhibition,"
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania

1946

"Exposition Internationale D'Arte
Moderne," Musee D'Arte Moderne,
Paris, France

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"49th American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

"Annual Carnegie Institute Exhibition,"
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania

1947

"Modern Drawings," Museum of Modern
Art, New York, New York

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"50th American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

"Annual Carnegie Institute Exhibition,"
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania

1948

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"51st American Exhibition," Art Institute
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

"Annual Carnegie Institute Exhibition,"
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania

1949

"American Painting in Our Century,"
organized by the Institute of
Contemporary Art, Boston,
Massachusetts; traveled through
Cleveland, Montreal, Los Angeles,
San Francisco

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"52nd American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

"Annual Carnegie Institute Exhibition,"
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania

1950

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"53rd American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1951

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"54th American Exhibition," Art Institute
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1952

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"55th American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1953

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"56th American Exhibition," Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1954

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"57th American Exhibition," Art Institute
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1955

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"58th American Exhibition," Art Institute
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1956

"Dessins Americains Contemporains,"
organized by the United States State
Department; traveled through France

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

"59th American Exhibition," Chicago
Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois

1957

"Annual Exhibition of Contemporary
American Painting," Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York, New York

1960

"Art U.S.A. Now," Five Year World Tour
of the S. C. Johnson Collection of
Contemporary American Art,
sponsored by the United States State
Department

1961

"Fine Arts Faculty Exhibition," Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts

One Man Exhibitions 1940

Downtown Gallery, New York, New York

1942

Museum of Modern Art, New York,

New York

Downtown Gallery, New York, New York

1943

Springfield Museum of Fine Arts,
Springfield, Massachusetts

1946

Downtown Gallery, New York, New York

1947

Downtown Gallery, New York, New York
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1949

Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania

1952

Boris Mirski Gallery, Boston,
Massachusetts

1953

Jewish Community Center, Cleveland,
Ohio

1954

Alan Gallery, New York, New York

1955

DeCordova and Dana Museum, Lincoln,
Massachusetts

1956

University of Vermont, Burlington,
Vermont

1957

Downtown Gallery, New York, New York

1960

Park Gallery, Detroit, Michigan
Nordness Gallery, New York, New York

1962

Nordness Gallery, New York, New York

1964

Nordness Gallery, New York, New York

1970

Gropper Art Gallery, Cambridge,
Massachusetts

1976

Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University,
Waltham, Massachusetts

Public Collections

Addison Gallery of American Art,
Phillips Academy, Andover,
Massachusetts

Alabama Polytechnic Institute,

Auburn, Alabama

Art Institute of Chicago,

Chicago, Illinois

Brockton Art Center,
Fuller Memorial,

Brockton, Massachusetts

Butler Institute of American Art,

Youngstown, Ohio

Cranbrook Academy of Art,

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Encyclopedia Britannica,

Chicago, Illinois

Fogg Art Museum,

Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts

Hirshhorn Museum and
Sculpture Garden,

Washington, District of Columbia

International Business Machines,

New York, New York

S. C. Johnson Collection of
Contemporary American Art,

Racine, Wisconsin

Metropolitan Museum of Art,

New York, New York

Museum of Modern Art,

New York, New York

National Collection of Fine Arts,

Washington, District of Columbia

Newark Museum,

Newark, New Jersey

New York Public Library,

New York, New York

Philadelphia Museum of Art,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Rose Art Museum,

Brandeis University, Waltham,
Massachusetts

St. Louis Art Museum,

St. Louis, Missouri

Smith College Museum of Art,

Northampton, Massachusetts

University of Arizona,

Tucson, Arizona

University of Georgia,

Athens, Georgia

University of Illinois,

Urbana, Illinois

University of Iowa,

Iowa City, Iowa

University of Nebraska,

Lincoln, Nebraska

University of New Mexico,

Albuquerque, New Mexico

University of Oklahoma,

Norman, Oklahoma

Whitney Museum of American Art,

New York, New York

Wichita Art Museum,

Wichita, Kansas

Selected Articles
and Critiques

(Listed Chronologically)

"Large Commission, St. Louis Mural
Commission Awarded to Edward
Millman and Mitchell Siporin." Maga-
zine of Art. (October, 1939), 594-5.

"Millman and Siporin Win $29,000
Federal Competition for St. Louis."
Art Digest. (October 1, 1939), 12.

McCausland, E. "Exhibition at Down-
town Gallery." Parnassus. (January,
1940), 30.

"Exhibition at Downtown Gallery." Art
News. (January 6, 1940), 11.

"Mexican Rice Workers, Gouache."
Smith College Museum of Art Bulletin.
(June, 1940), 21.

"Mitchell Siporin Awarded Bertha Aberle
Florsheim Prize of $100." Chicago
Art Institute News Release. (October
29, 1941), 49.

"Frescoes for St. Louis Post Office."
Art News. (October 15, 1942), 27.

"History of Missouri, Millman's and
Siporin's Murals for the St. Louis Post
Office." Pictures. (October, 1942),
8-9.

"Millman and Siporin Recount Missouri
History in St. Louis Murals." Art
Digest. (October 15, 1942), 12.

"Missouri: New Murals by E. Millman
and M. Siporin in the Post Office in
St. Louis." Life. (October 12, 1942), 6.

"Exhibition at Downtown Gallery." Art
News. (October, 1947), 27.

"Exhibition at Downtown Gallery." Art
Digest. (November, 1947), 19.

"Siporin's Oils, Caseins, Drawings to be
Shown." Philadelphia Art Alliance
Bulletin. (October, 1949), 8.

"Carleton College Gets First Contempo-
rary Work: Night Piece." Art Digest.
(January 1, 1952), 10.

"Exhibition of Paintings at Alan Gallery.'
Art Digest. (December 1, 1954), 30.

"Exhibition of Paintings at Alan Gallery.'
Art News. (December, 1954), 52.

"Exhibition at Downtown." Art News.
(October, 1957), 18.

"Imaginary Interviews: Exhibition at
Downtown Galleries." Arts. (Novem-
ber, 1957), 55.

"Exhibition at Nordness." Art News.
(April, 1960), 16.

"Exhibition at Nordness." Arts. (April
1960), 64.

Selected Books and
General References

Arte Contemporanea Norteamericana.
New York:'Museum of Modern Art,
1941.

Baur, John I, H. Revolution and
Tradition in Modern American Art.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, 1959.

Beard, Charles A. and Mary R. America
in Midpassage. New York:
The Macmillan Company, 1939.

Benezit, Emmanuel. Dictionnaire
Critique et Documentaire des Peintres,
Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs.
Paris: Grund, 1949.

Biddle, George. Artist at War. New
York: 1944.

Cahill, Holger. New Horizons in
American Art. New York: Museum of
Modern Art, 1939.

Cheney, Sheldon. Expressionism in Art.
New York: Boni and Liveright, 1934.

Clapp, Jane. Art in Life. New York:
Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1959.

Cummings, Paul. Dictionary of
Contemporary American Artists. New
York: St. Martin's Press, 1966.

Fabre, Michel. The Unfinished Quest
of Richard Wright. New York: William
Morrow and Company, 1973.

Goodrich, Lloyd and Baur, John I .H.
American Art of Our Century. New
York: Whitney Museum of American
Art, 1961.

Halpert, Edith Gregor. The Downtown
Gallery. New York: The Downtown
Gallery, 1943.

Havlice, Patricia Pate. Art in Time.
Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow
Press, Inc., 1970.

History of the Fifth Army. (Illustrations
by Mitchell Siporin and others), 10
volumes. Florence and Milan: United
States Fifth Army, 1944-45.

Larkin, Oliver W. Art and Life in
America. New York: Holt, Rhinehart
and Winston, 1966.

Miller, Dorothy C. (ed.) Americans
1942: Artists from Nine States. New
York: Museum of Modern Art, 1942.

Nordness, Lee (ed.) Art: USA: Now, 2
volumes. Lucerne: C. J. Bucher, 1962.

O'Connor, Francis V. The New Deal Art
Projects: An Anthology of Memoirs.
Washington, District of Columbia:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1972.

Pagano, Grace. The Encyclopedia
Britannica Collection of Contemporary
American Painting. Chicago:
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1946.

Pitz, Henry C. Pen, Brush and Ink.
New York: Watson-Guptill, 1949.

Pousette-Dart, Nathaniel (ed.)
American Painting Today. New York:
Hastings House, 1956.

Slatkin, Charles and Schoolman, Regina.
Treasury of American Drawings. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1947.

Vollmer, Hans (ed.) Kunstler Lexicon
der XX Jahrhunderts. Leipzig:
E. S. Seeman, 1907-50, 1965.

Watson, Forbes. American Painting
Today. Washington, District of
Columbia: American Federation of the
Arts, 1939.

. Art in Federal Buildings. New

York: 1942.

Wight, Frederick S. Milestones of
American Painting in Our Century. New
York: Chanticleer Press, 1949.

Zigrosser, Carl. Book of Fine Prints.
New York: Crown Publishers, 1937.

Catalogue of
the Exhibition

The Stool Pigeons: Mr. and Mrs. William

Seliger, from the "Haymarket Series,"

1934

pen and ink

21% x 14W

Lent by the Whitney Museum of

American Art, New York, New York;

Anonymous Gift

2

August Spies Speaking From a Wagon,

from the "Haymarket Series," 1934

pen and ink

23y2 x 17"

Collection of the Artist

3

Horse Car Strike, from the "Haymarket

Series," 1934

pen and ink

23% x 17"

Collection of the Artist

4

Raid on Vorwarts - Turnerhall, from

the "Haymarket Series," 1934

pen and ink

23% x 17"

Collection of the Artist

5
"In the Name of the State of Illinois,

I Command You to Disperse," from the
"Haymarket Series," 1934

pen and ink

23% x 17"

Collection of the Artist

6

On the Haymarket, from the
"Haymarket Series," 1934

pen and ink

23% x 17"

Collection of the Artist

7

Dedication of Monument to Matthais J.

Degan, from the "Haymarket Series,"

1934

pen and ink

23y2x 17"

Collection of the Artist

8

Death of Victor Hugo, from the
"Haymarket Series," 1934

pen and ink

23V2 x 17"

Collection of the Artist

Cyrus McCormic and Terence Powderly,

from the "Haymarket Series," 1934

pen and ink

23% x 17"

Collection of the Artist

10

Babes in Toyland, from the "Haymarket

Series," 1934

pen and ink

23% x 17"

Collection of the Artist

11

The Gallows: Spies, Engel, Fischer and

Parsons, from the "Haymarket Series,"

1934

pen and ink

23% x 17"

Collection of the Artist

12

Violence at the Monument, from the
"Haymarket Series," 1934

pen and ink

23% x 17"

Collection of the Artist

13

Altgeld and Lincoln, from the
"Haymarket Series," 1934

pen and ink

23% x 17"

Collection of the Artist

14

Soldier and Camp Follower, 1936

casein on illustration board

30V4 x 22"

Collection of the Artist

15

Veteran's Hospital, illustration for
"Esquire" magazine, 1936

pen and ink

15% x 19%"

Collection of the Artist

16

The Teaching of the Arts: Drama-
preliminary drawing for fresco murals,

Lane Technical High School, Chicago,

Illinois, 1937

pencil

15x3%"

Collection of the Artist

\

17

The Teaching of the Arts: Painting,
preliminary drawing for fresco murals,
Lane Technical High School, Chicago,
Illinois, 1937
pencil

15 x 3%"

Collection of the Artist
18

Charity, 1937

casein on illustration board

17% x 22%"

Collection of the Artist

19

Prairie Industry with Corn Blower,

preliminary drawing for fresco murals,

Central Lobby, U.S. Post Office, Decatur,

Illinois, 1938

pencil

16y2 x 26y2"

Collection of the Artist

20

Taming the Prairie: The Rail Splitter,

preliminary drawing for fresco murals,

Central Lobby, U.S. Post Office, Decatur,

Illinois, 1938

pencil

16 x 26"

Collection of the Artist
21

Homeless, 1939

oil on canvas

30 x 36"

Collection of the Artist

22

Fishermen - Acapulco, 1939

casein on illustration board

26% x 32%"

Collection of the Artist

23

Mexican Rice Workers, 1939

gouache

22%x31"

Lent by the Smith College Museum of

Art, Northampton, Massachusetts;

Gift of Mr. Jere Abbott

24

Dream of the Good Life, 1941

casein on illustration board

26% x 37%"

Collection of the Artist

25

Earthquake, 1941
casein on cardboard
23% x 34"

Lent by the Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York, New York
26

John Brown Sequence, copy after
fresco murals, U.S. Post Office,
St. Louis, Missouri, 1942
egg tempera on gessoed plywood panel
23 x 24"

Collection of the Artist
27

Detail, Head, from "John Brown Se-
quence," copy after fresco murals, U.S.
Post Office, St. Louis, Missouri, 1942
egg tempera on gessoed plywood panel
16 x 20"

Collection of the Artist
28

Detail, Fur Trader and Indian, copy
after fresco murals, U.S. Post Office,
St. Louis, Missouri, 1942
egg tempera on gessoed plywood panel
14% x 17%"
Collection of the Artist
29

End of an Era, 1946
oil on canvas
40 x 52"

Collection of Dr. Robert Atkins,
New York, New York
30

Endless Voyage, 1946
oil on canvas
34y2 x 39%"

Lent by the University of Iowa,
Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa
31

Winter Soldiers, 1946
oil on canvas
36 x 40"

Collection of the Artist
32

Flashback to Carthage, 1946
casein
18% x 23%"

Lent by the Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York, New York

\

33

Drawing for "Welcome Home" Exhibi-
tion Catalogue, the Downtown Gallery,
New York, New York; portraits, from
left: 0. Louis Guglielmi, Jack Levine,
Mitchell Siporin, Jacob Lawrence,
Ralston Crawford, Ed Lewandowski,
1946

pen and ink
16% x 21%"
Collection of the Artist
v34

Bivouac, 1946
pen and ink
21 x 30"

Lent by the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Massachusetts;
Gift of Mrs. Edith Gregor Halpert
35

Ghost Harbor, 1947
oil on canvas
23 x 48"

Collection of the Artist
36

The Prodigal, 1947
oil on canvas
15% x liy2"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Fred
Bienstock, New York, New York
37

Mountain Passage, 1947
oil on canvas
34y2 x 28y2"

Lent by the DeCordova and Dana
Museum and Park, Lincoln, Massachu-
setts; Gift of the Stephen and Sybil
Stone Foundation
38

Around the Fountain, 1947
gouache
28 x 21"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Auerbach, Boston, Massachusetts
39

Joy Ride, 1948
oil on canvas
60 x 40"

Collection of the Artist
40

The Doll, 1948
oil on canvas
40 x 30"
Collection of the Artist

\

41

Twilight on Upper Broadway, 1948
oil on canvas
24 x 30"

Collection of Miriam Siporin
•42

Saturday Night, 1948
oil on canvas
14 x 18"

Collection of Mrs. Helen Sagoff Slosberg,
Boston, Massachusetts
43

Hamlet by the Jukebox, 1948
oil on canvas
16 x 12"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence
Thompson, Lincoln, Massachusetts
44

Promenade, 1948
pen and ink
19 x 25%"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harold
Rubenstein, Brockton, Massachusetts
45

Landscape with Lime Kiln, 1949
oil on canvas
30 x 40"

Collection of Rachel Siporin
46

Moonlight Over Myrtle, 1949
oil on canvas
24 x 30"

Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, New York; Arthur H. Hearn
Fund, 1950
47

Dancers by the Clock, 1949
oil on canvas
40y2 x 60y8"

Lent by the Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York, New York
48

Aging Actress, 1949
oil on canvas
29y4 x 231/4"

Collection of Dr. Robert Atkins,
New York, New York
49

The Steel Puddlers, 1949
casein
17V4 x 22%"
Collection of the Artist

\

V

50

Refreshment in Flatbush, 1949
pen and ink
17y2 x 23y4"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Auerbach, Boston, Massachusetts
51

Festa in Trastevere, 1950
oil on canvas
31% x 39Va"

Brandeis University Art Collection, Rose
Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts;
Gift of James N. Rosenberg, Scarsdale,
New York
52

St/7/ Life, 1951
oil on canvas
12x16"

Collection of the Artist
53

Display, 1951
oil on masonite panel
8 x 12"

Lent by the Brockton Art Center -
Fuller Memorial, Brockton, Massachu-
setts; Gift of Stephen and Sybil Stone
54

Parade in Anticoli, 1951
oil on canvas
50 x 70"

Brandeis University Art Collection, Rose
Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts;
Gift of Mrs. Helen Sagoff Slosberg
55

Untitled, 1951
oil on canvas
24 x 30"

Private Collection
56

Marketplace, 1952
oil on canvas
40 x 60"

Collection of the Artist
57

The Battle I, 1952
pen and ink
22%x31"
Collection of the Artist

\

58

Merchant of Venice, 1952

watercolor

16% x 18%"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harold S.

Shapero, Natick, Massachusetts

59

Girls of Cereveteri, c. 1952

oil on paper

16V2 x 21"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Fred

Bienstock, New York, New York

60

Synagogue, 1953

oil on canvas

Collection of the Artist

61

Medieval Hardware, 1953

casein

17V2 x 20%"

Collection of the Artist

62

The Battle II, 1953

pen and ink

22% x 31"

Collection of the Artist

63

Supermarket, 1954

oil on canvas

30 x 40"

Collection of the Artist

64

The Bar, 1954

oil on canvas

30 x 36"

Collection of the Artist

65

Rendezvous, 1954

oil on canvas

42 x 32"

Collection of the Artist

66

Exhibition, 1954

oil on canvas

30 x 24"

Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Leon

Ginsburg, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

\

\

\

67

Academic Festival, 1954
watercolor
21 x 29"

Collection of the Artist
.68

Rockport Beach Scene, 1955
oil on canvas
24% x 30%"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence
Thompson, Lincoln, Massachusetts
69

Small Promenade, 1955
oil on canvas mounted on board
13% x 16%"
Collection of the Artist
70

The Performers, 1955
watercolor
21% x 29%"

Brandeis University Art Collection,
Rose Art Museum, Waltham,
Massachusetts
71

Design for Ark Curtain. Berlin Chapel,
Brandeis University, 1956 (tapestry
woven by Helen Kroll Kramer)
gouache and colored inks on illustration
board

22% x 23>/2"
Collection of the Artist
72

The Denial, from the series, "Imaginary
Interviews," 1957
watercolor
37 x 24'/2"

Lent by the DeCordova and Dana
Museum and Park, Lincoln,
Massachusetts; Gift of the Stephen
and Sybil Stone Foundation
73

Picture Dealers, from the series,
'Imaginary Interviews," 1957
watercolor
22% x 30"

Collection of Mr. Louis R. Glaser,
Providence, Rhode Island
74

The Shakespeareans, 1957-58
oil on canvas
24 x 16"
Collection of the Artist

\

75

Nude Reflecting, 1957-58
oil on canvas
18 x 12"

Collection of the Artist
76

Rachel and Judith, 1958
oil on canvas
36 x 24"

Collection of the Artist
77

Homage to Pissarro, 1958
watercolor and ink
28 x 40"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. David G.
Stone, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
78

Man and Nature, from the series,
"Monet in His Garden," 1959-60
watercolor
25 x 38V2"

Collection of Mrs. Helen Sagoff
Slosberg, Boston, Massachusetts
79

In the Birches, from the series, "Monet
in His Garden," 1959-60
watercolor
25V2 x 38%"
Collection of the Artist
80

From the Japanese Bridge, from the
series, "Monet in His Garden," 1959-60
watercolor
25V2 x 38%"
Collection of the Artist
81

Reflection in the Lily Pond, from the
series, "Monet in His Garden," 1959-60
watercolor
25V2 x 38%"
Collection of the Artist
82

The Lovers, 1960
oil and magna on gessoed panel
16 x 20"

Collection of the Artist
83

Busy Day in the Atelier, 1960
pen and ink
18'/2 x 23"
Collection of the Artist

\

84

Adolescence, 1960

pen and ink

18% x 10%"

Collection of the Artist

85

Late Show, 1961

watercolor

21 x 30"

Collection of the Artist

86

Harbor City. 1961-62

watercolor

25V2 x 38%"

Collection of the Artist

87

Judith, from the series, "Rembrandt

and His Models," 1961-62

watercolor

25V2 x 38%"

Collection of the Artist

88

The Golden Angel, from the series,
"Rembrandt and His Models," 1961-62

watercolor

38% x 25y2"

Collection of the Artist

89

Venus and Mars, from the series,
"Rembrandt and His Models," 1961-62

watercolor

38% x 25y2"

Collection of the Artist

90

Death and the Maiden, 1962

oil on canvas

60 x 40"

Lent by the National Collection of

Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution,

Washington, D.C.; Gift of S. C. Johnson

and Son, Inc.

91

Untitled, c. 1965

watercolor

16 x6%"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph

Auerbach, Boston, Massachusetts

\

\i

\i

V

V

92

Landscape #11, c. 1965

watercolor

17V2 x 20%"

Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Saul G.

Cohen, Belmont, Massachusetts

93

Rachel and Judith in the Forum,

1966-67

oil on canvas

38% x 51"

Collection of the Artist

94

Aerial Landscape, 1966-67

oil on canvas

30 x 18"

Collection of Mrs. Helen Sagoff

Slosberg, Boston, Massachusetts

95

Untitled, 1966-67

oil on canvas

20]/2 x 27%"

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harold

Rubenstein, Brockton, Massachusetts

96

Fleamarket, from the series, "Porta

Portese," 1966-67

acrylic

27 x 39"

Collection of the Artist

97

Hassid Washing His Feet in the Roman

Fountain, from the series, "Porta

Portese," 1966-67

watercolor and acrylic

27 x 39"

Collection of the Artist

98

Hassid Under the Arch of Titus, from

the series, "Porta Portese," 1966-67

watercolor

26 x 39"

Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Saul G.

Cohen, Belmont, Massachusetts

99

G/ass, from the series, "Porta Portese,"

1967

acrylic

27V2 x 39y2"

Lent by the Worcester Art Museum,

Worcester, Massachusetts; Gift of

Mrs. Helen Sagoff Slosberg

100

Judith, 1969
oil on canvas
16 x 12"

Collection of Judith Siporin
101

May Mid-day Landscape, 1969
watercolor
16% x 19"

Collection of the Artist
102

Dear/7 and the Maiden, 1970-71
oil on canvas
44 x 24y8"

Collection of the Artist
103
' Doris Brewer Cohen, 1971
oil on canvas
40 x 30"

Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Saul G.
Cohen, Belmont, Massachusetts
104

Cambridge Common, 1971
watercolor
22>/4 x 30y4"
Collection of the Artist
105

Landscape - Cape Cod, 1971
watercolor
21 x29V4"

Collection of the Artist
106

Blue Landscape, 1972
oil on canvas
40 x 60"

Collection of the Artist
107

Boy in Garden, 1972-73
oil on canvas
40 x 60"

Collection of the Artist
108

Agony in the Garden, 1973
oil on canvas
50 x 40"

Collection of the Artist
109

Plaza Insurgentes, 1974
watercolor
22y2 x 30"
Collection of the Artist

110

Dear/7 of the Sun - Palacio de Bellas

Artes, 1974

watercolor

22M. x 30"

Collection of the Artist

111

Landscape to Taxco, 1974

watercolor

22% x 30"

Collection of the Artist

112

Homage to Frederick Catherwood,

1974

watercolor

22y2 x 30"

Collection of the Artist

113

Outside the Church - San Sebastiano

de Chimalstoc, 1974

watercolor

22y2 x 30"

Collection of the Artist

114

Diego Rivera and His Demons -

Anahuacalli, 1974

watercolor

22y2 x 30"

Collection of the Artist

115

Health and Happiness - Avenida San

Juan de Latran, 1974

watercolor

22'/2 x 30"

Collection of the Artist

116

Assault on the Presidential Palace, 197 A

watercolor

22y2 x 30"

Collection of the Artist

117

New England Landscape, 1975

oil on canvas

28 x 38"

Collection of the Artist

118

Closing Time at the Prado, 1975

oil on canvas

45 x 31"

Collection of the Artist

119

Yehuda-Ha-Levi on the Shores of Spain,

1958-59/1975

oil on canvas

39 x 42"

Collection of the Artist

120

Winter Landscape, 1976

oil on canvas

60 x 29%"

Collection of the Artist

121

Miriam, 1976

oil on canvas

26ys x 22'A"

Collection of Miriam Siporin

122

April Landscape, 1976

oil on canvas

42 x 34"

Collection of the Artist

123

Small Landscape I, 1976

oil on canvas

16 x 12"

Collection of the Artist

124

Small Landscape II, 1976

oil on canvas

12 x 16"

Collection of the Artist

125

Small Landscape III. 1976

oil on canvas

12 x 16"

Collection of the Artist

126

Small Landscape IV, 1976

oil on canvas

16 x 12"

Collection of the Artist

127

Small Landscape V, 1976

oil on gessoed panel

10 x 14"

Collection of the Artist

128

Abduction of the Yanqui Consul, 1976

watercolor

14 x 20"

Collection of the Artist

Staff of the Rose Art Museum:
Carl Belz, Director
Marjorie Groggins, Registrar
Kathe Tuttman, Staff Assistant
Walter Soule, Superintendent

Photographic Credits:
Barney Burstein, Boston, Massachusetts:
nos. 29, 30, 47, 90, 106, 107, 110, 118
Colten and Siegler, New York, New York: no. 21
Olive Baker, New York, New York: nos. 31,
35, 39,73, 81, 89

This catalogue was produced by:
Logowitz & Moore Design Associates

Typesetting: Wrightson Typographers

Printing: Mark-Burton, Inc.